How did I get into this?

So your little darling, first born, boy or girl is off to school for the first time and like many conscientious parents you attend your first PTA meeting. Suddenly, and without warning, you are hurriedly volunteered into the position of “Enrichment Coordinator” or “Assembly Program Coordinator” or “Arts Liaison” or “Cultural Arts” or whatever name the job is called at your school, and .... you have absolutely no idea what an assembly program even is! Panic! How did this happen?

Well, in most schools about three or four (sometimes less!) dedicated individuals actually do 95% of the work in their PTA/PTO. And they are always looking for new suckers.... I mean  “new volunteers” to take on some of the load. And who can blame them? So there you are. What next?

What do I do now?

“Oh, it is easy”,  you are assured by everyone. But where to start?

If you are lucky, they hand you a folder. In it you find flyers for five hundred and fifty thousand different performers and companies who have all mailed information to the school at some point in the last twenty years. OMG! Which ones are good? What has been done before? What do the teachers want? 

Or maybe the previous person threw everything away and you have nothing to work with at all. So, like every modern soul, you turn to the internet. OMG! There are so many! In the past, a really well done brochure versus a mimeographed flyer usually spoke volumes about the professionalism and quality of a program but now the internet has made everyone look equally good. How do I know what’s good? Suppose I bring in a show and it is really boring, or, worse still, really, really bad? What if this presenter is actually a drunk or doesn’t show up on the day of the program? Who is reliable? Who is safe? How will I show my face in the school if the presenter lets me down?

First, you have to answer some questions.

- How much can I spend? (Start with this!)

- How many events may I schedule?

- Do I want educational or entertainment or both?

- Do the teachers/principal/ or other parents have requests or themes? 

- Has anything been referred to us?

- What would I like to see? (Don't forget this!)

- When do I want them?

- When are they available?

- How much time am I willing to put into this? ( This is really important!)

Start by working on answers to these questions and we will talk about what to do next in the next post.

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN